So here I sit in bed at 3:30 am. I can’t sleep, in part because the aches and pains from my chemo treatment on Monday are keeping me up, and in part because I had a cup of coffee 45 minutes ago. I just wanted something warm to drink and wasn’t really thinking things through… I have my SoundCloud page open on my computer and my headphones in so I can listen to all the remixes of Numb that are arriving in my inbox.

What a strange and incredibly amazing thing this remix contest has been.

While I’m in this down time as I go through treatment for recurrent breast cancer, I wanted to remain relevant in the social media scene. With the release of Secret Music last month things have been picking up in the interview department and I feel that there is always something more to look forward to. Still, the days are long and largely empty and so it was great enthusiasm that I put together this remix contest for Numb. Remixes are something that I love about one of my favorite artists, Björk. She will have multiple remixes for every one of her singles and I love to hear the variations that people can make with her music. I did some research and put together this contest. Rich Veltrop at The Spot Studios had made the stems for me ages ago and they had just been sitting in an online folder waiting for the right time. That time is now.

I started the contest about 10 days ago and we already have 9 solid submissions. And they are astounding. I really and truly feel that I have had a dream come true with this. To have been part of the creation of some really cool music is humbling. Some of the remixes are so perfect, so just what I would have wanted, that it’s as if someone has written a song just for me using my own words. It’s a very strange thing. I have the playlist of remixes playing as I type this. One after another, each artist has painted this song with their own particular brush and I love the interesting textures and feels they each interjected. You know when you first open a box of chocolates and each unique confection is there in it’s specially designed spot, shiny and perfect? I love that moment when I get to savor all the choices and I feel like that here. I have a growing number of renditions of Numb filling my box. Each one is different but perfect in it’s own way. I wouldn’t change a thing about them.

As I sit here in the middle of the night, my body is aching and tired as I fight the final few battles of chemo, but my soul is soaring. No matter what, I will live on in this music. Some words I penned from my heart a year ago may reach out and touch someone else in a way completely different from how I wrote them but no less powerful. I feel blessed to have been part of putting this in the world. Thank you so everyone who heard the magic in this song and decided to add your magic to it as well. I am so grateful.

Ever since she could remember, Amy Kress had been a musician at heart. It’s a language that Amy speaks fluently, and she began composing music at the early age of eight years old.
Amy began playing the piano when she was just 6 and in high school, she was playing numerous instruments including French Horn, Trumpet, and guitar in addition to her beloved keys. It was during her high school years that she discovered she had a voice. Amy became part of a short-lived music project in her early 20’s, but gradually marriage and family became more of a priority and music all but disappeared from her life.
In May 2011 Amy was diagnosed with breast cancer and required a mastectomy and four rounds of chemotherapy. The devastating diagnosis at the age of 37 brought Amy to the realization that she had given up on her passion and dream of making music years earlier. When her treatment was over and after a year or so of recovery, Amy realized that her “someday” had to be today. With that, so she began pursuing her true passion of writing, singing and producing music.
It was the fall of 2013 that Glenn Sawyer of The Spot Studios in Lakewood, Colorado, came across her demos on Soundcloud and asked Amy if she would be interested in producing her songs at his studio. Their relationship resulted in numerous collaborations and birthed Amy’s first album, “Secret Music”, which she released in January 2015.
In the summer of 2014, Amy’s 14-year marriage came to an end and shortly after she was re-diagnosed with Stage III breast cancer. Amy endured another four months of chemotherapy, during which time she co-wrote and partially recorded her sophomore album Fly with Sawyer.
Months of various treatment options later, Amy found herself in a state of healthy remission, with the use of holistic health treatments in conjunction with western oncological recommendations.
Currently, Amy is feeling healthy and is writing music for her third album, expected to be released in 2017. Both of Amy’s previous albums are available with all online music retailers and streaming.
Amy continues to inspire others and to spread her message of living one’s passion everywhere that she performs. She always emphasizes how important it is to make today your someday and live fully, NOW.
Amy Kress lives in Denver, Colorado with her two children and three cats. She recently acquired a bass guitar and is learning to master it. It’s blue and she’s very fond of it.